Have you ever read Ruskin's books? If not, I would recommend you to try the second and third volumes (not parts) of his "Modern Pa...inters." I am now reading the fourth, and have read most of his other books lately. They are singularly good and encouraging, though not without crudeness and bigotry. The themes in the volumes referred to are Infinity, Beauty, Imagination, Love of Nature, etc.,--all treated in a very living manner. I am rather surprised by them. It is remarkable that these things should be said with reference to painting chiefly, rather than literature. The "Seven Lamps of Architecture," too, is made of good stuff; but, as I remember, there is too much about art in it for me and the Hottentots. We want to know about matters and things in general. Our house is as yet a hut.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

If I were asked what are the greatest obstacles to the speedy enfranchisement of women I should answer: There are three; the first... is militarism.... The second obstacle is the unconscious, unmeasured influence upon the estimate in which women as a whole are held that emanates from that most debasing of our evil institutions, prostitution.... [ellipsis in source] The third great cause is the inertia in the growth of democracy which has come as a reaction following the aggressive movements that with possibly ill-advised haste enfranchised the foreigner, the Negro and the Indian. Perilous conditions, seeming to follow from the introduction into the body politic of vast numbers of irresponsible citizens, have made the nation timid.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

There is no independence of law against National Socialism. Say to yourselves at every decision which you make: "How would the Fü...hrer decide in my place?" In every decision ask yourselves: "Is this decision compatible with the National Socialist conscience of the German people?" Then you will have a firm iron foundation which, allied with the unity of the National Socialist People's State and with your recognition of the eternal nature of the will of Adolf Hitler, will endow your own sphere of decision with the authority of the Third Reich, and this for all time.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

I've been in one Derby, and this is my third Belmont. But I've never thought of the fact that I haven't won a Triple Crown race. I...'m not like that. I always look at the sunshine of things.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Jerry: She's one of those third-year girls that gripe my liver.Milo: Third-year girls?...Jerry: Yeah, you know, American college kids. They come over here to take their third year and lap up a little culture. They give me a swift pain.Milo: Why?Jerry: They're officious and dull. They're always making profound observations they've overheard.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Like dreaming, reading performs the prodigious task of carrying us off to other worlds. But reading is not dreaming because books,... unlike dreams, are subject to our will: they envelop us in alternative realities only because we give them explicit permission to do so. Books are the dreams we would most like to have, and, like dreams, they have the power to change consciousness, turning sadness to laughter and anxious introspection to the relaxed contemplation of some other time and place.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »